(UPDATED) Washington -- This wasn’t supposed to be the Orange team to make its way to the Final Four. The Wesley Johnson/Andy Rautins/Rick Jackson/Arinze Onuaku bunch? Sure. Last year’s club that was 34-2 before being tossed? Absolutely.

But this Syracuse group? The one with five freshmen and sophomores in the first nine? The one that had lost some 3,800 career points from one season’s roster to the next? The one that had tumbled to No. 19 in the polls just 20 days ago? Nope. No way. Not a chance.

But look who’s headed to Atlanta. Look who’s outlasted the Kansases and Carolinas and Michigan States and Georgetowns and Ohio States. Look who’s bound for the biggest stage in college basketball.

Jim Boeheim’s guys, that’s who. Which means, following Saturday’s 55-39 dismantling of the Marquette Golden Eagles in that NCAA Tournament Elite Eight mismatch -- a throttling witnessed by 19,801 in-house fans including President Obama, RG3, Wolf Blitzer and all those Derrick Colemans and Sherman Douglases and Billy Owenses and Lawrence Motens and Pearl Washingtons -- it’s time to party like it’s 2003.

And to do so heartily because . . . well, because surprises are so much sweeter.

“I mean, we knew we were good,” offered Mike Hopkins, the former Orangeman who now serves as Boeheim’s top aide. “And the goal every year is always to win the national championship. It’s always that. But to say that I felt great that we had a great chance to get to the Final Four? I can’t say that. No, I can’t.”

And yet here SU is, just as it was in the decades of the ’70s (1975) and ’80s (1987) and ’90s (1996) and ’00s (2003). Here it is, with its ticket to paradise punched. Here it is, southbound . . . and loving it.

The majestic given, of course, is the celebrated 2-3 zone, which was again a team-wrecker on Saturday. And, undoubtedly, there is Boeheim, the puppeteer pulling the strings and the only Syracuse constant through the five decades. But there is this, too, about this squad in this campaign:

“We have,” explained C.J. Fair without a hint of boastfulness, “the perfect personnel for all the positions.”

And then the 6-foot-8 junior forward listed Michael Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche and James Southerland and Rakeem Christmas and Baye Moussa Keita and Jerami Grant, each of whom has the wingspan of something out of Jurassic Park.

“And,” he added, “me.”

It was Fair, his own elongated self, who’d admitted without prompting before the demolition of Marquette that the Orange had suffered through “an up-and-down season, especially near the end” and that he understood why some people back home had lost a bit of faith during the stretch run.

There were, after all, those five games in February and early March during which the SU offense had generated 58, 55, 53, 46 and 39 points. And there were those seven losses in those 12 dates leading into the Big East Tournament. But there always was that spectacular defense, somehow improved (and significantly) even with the loss of Fab Melo from the previous year.

And so, a lot of folks just didn’t see. Or perhaps they’d adopted the viewpoint that an expert is that person from out of town. Whatever, they seemed to take for granted what had been on display in the Carrier Dome and elsewhere from the tip of this campaign to its tail.

Why, ever since this Syracuse outfit stepped onto that boat in San Diego, and continuing right through Saturday here in the Verizon Center, scoring against that Boeheim zone and against those long-longer-longest athletes has been like changing clothes in the bathroom of an airplane (and you may recall the luck Tommy Boy had with that).

Sixty-three percent of all shots hoisted against this Orange array have missed. And it’s been even worse in this Tournament for the other guys because Montana, California, Indiana and Marquette have combined to shoot just 29 percent from the field and average only 45.8 points per outing.

There are some immutable truths in sports, and one of them is clearly this: If your opponent can’t score, that’s a good thing for you. And most SU foes attack the Syracuse zone as if looking for a light switch in the dark. Hit or miss, baby. And it’s been mostly miss.

Take the Golden Eagles, who on Saturday scored seven points -- s-e-v-e-n -- in the affair's first 13 minutes and 54 seconds while being turned into so many Grizzlies and Golden Bears and Hoosiers. Indeed, they doinked 41 of their 53 field-goal attempts, they committed 14 turnovers, they shot 13% from beyond the arc (which isn't all that far away).

They were, in short, beaten like laundry on some rocks. And they knew it. At least their boss did.

“It is the zone and players in the zone,” declared Buzz Williams, the Marquette coach who minces no words. “You don’t shoot 53 shots and make 12 and, say, ‘Well, we just didn’t make shots.’ Or, “We weren’t feeling good.’ No, they beat us. I mean that as sincerely as I could possibly say it to you. We tried everything we knew.”

And now, he watches the Orange -- coach, assistants, players, zone . . . the whole kit and kaboodle (including its 44 steals and 25 blocks) -- move on to Georgia. And Buzz, unlike some others, is surprised not at all.

“They have pros,” he announced. “I think they have guys on their team that, after they win the national championship, may not play for Syracuse anymore.”

A forbidding thought, yes. But not in the short term. Not over these next nine days. Not now, as we party like it's 2003.

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Here is the usual weekly “schedule of events” in Bud Poliquin’s corner of syracuse.com:

MONDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “How’d I Do?” By 6 p.m.: “Ask Me Anything” by submitting questions (to which I’ll give answers) on any sports-related topic to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include your name and the identity of your hometown.)

TUESDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “Coach’s Corner,” wherein readers can submit questions to any coach at any level in Central New York (and answers will be posted) to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.) By 6 p.m.: “The Video Store.”

WEDNESDAY -- By 8 a.m.: The daily column/commentary. By 11:30 a.m.: “The List.” By 6 p.m.: “E-Mail Of The Week,” wherein readers can submit legitimate essays/open letters/observations for purposes of posting to bpoliquin@syracuse.com. (Please include name and hometown.)